Following widespread protests over the voter-registration process, and international calls for delay, Benin’s Constitutional Court twice postponed the 2011 presidential election. Opposition parties accused the National Electoral Commission of not having issued more than one million voter cards for an electorate estimated at 4.5 million. When the election was held, on March 13, Pres. Thomas Yayi Boni easily won his second term, taking 53% of the vote. Adrien Houngbédji came in second, with 36% of the vote. Houngbédji challenged the result, claiming that fraud had robbed him of his victory. On March 24, police in Cotonou used tear gas to drive off hundreds of Houngbédji’s youthful supporters. The Constitutional Court rejected all opposition appeals and declared Yayi the undisputed winner. He was sworn in on April 6. Parliamentary elections held in April gave parties supporting the president an absolute majority, taking 52 of the 83 seats.

The severe floods of October 2010, which had a devastating effect on the country’s always fragile economy, threatened to cause further damage in 2011 as the Ouémé River began rising to record levels again in August. Although the U.S. forgave $460 million in Benin’s debt and the IMF approved a $16.9 million aid package, the economy remained weak and overdependent on its main cash crop, cotton.

The National Assembly voted on August 18 to ratify an international covenant calling for the abolition of the death penalty. If approved by Yayi, Benin would be the 74th signatory to the treaty.

Piracy off the coast of Benin increased in 2011, with more than 18 vessels hijacked. This was in stark contrast to the previous year, in which no attacks were reported.

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In late February ceremonies marked the agreement to construct two joint border posts between Togo and the neighbouring countries of Ghana to the west and Benin to the east. The project was sponsored jointly by the EU and the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa and was designed to facilitate inter-African trade, leading eventually to a free-trade zone.

country of western Africa. It consists of a narrow wedge of territory extending northward for about 420 miles (675 kilometres) from the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean, on which it has a 75-mile seacoast, to the Niger River, which forms part of Benin’s northern border with Niger. Benin...